It’s about time we mentioned Snapchat after writing about Instagram and Facebook. What was once a typical app that teenagers and college students used to send random photographs have now developed into a fully-fledged media platform.
Select the sections you are most interested in clicking on:
- Describe Snapchat.
- Snapchat post types
- Snapchat filter types
- How to utilize Snapchat for hotels
- Do you feel up to it?
But what exactly is Snapchat?
Even though you’ve certainly heard a lot about it, you might still need to learn what it is. Simply put, Snapchat is a 2011-released photo and video messaging app. The fact that anything sent through the app only exists for a brief period before disappearing completely makes it so special.
Its users who?
Although it’s targeted at teenagers and 60% of its US users are between the ages of 13 and 24, 40% aren’t millennials, indicating that it’s starting to spread swiftly among older populations. This year saw an increase in users aged 25 to 34 and 35 on Snapchat. So it’s possible that by the end of the next year, half of Snapchat users will be over 25.
What the numbers show
Here are some other figures to help you reconsider using Snapchat:
- Snapchat reached 150 million daily active users in December 2015! By 10 million, it has already exceeded Twitter. Additionally, this year should see at least 50% growth.
- Snapchat users watch up to 10 billion videos daily, compared to Facebook users’ 8 billion daily video views in the third quarter of 2015.
- Every day, 400 million Snapchat stories are produced.
Do you remember how people used to choose which Instagram filter to apply to their photos? They’re probably spending more time on Snapchat right now, experimenting with all the different filters.
Snapchat post types
You can share a variety of content kinds on Snapchat. What they are called and what they are used for are as follows:
1. Snap
The vanishing images and videos go by this moniker. Snaps can be set to last for one to ten seconds.
2. Story
Each Snap in a Story is played one after the other. Instead of sending your snaps to your friends, you can save them to your “story.” These stories are available to your followers for 24 hours after you upload them, and they are free to view them again whenever they want. You may also see who has viewed your tale!
You can send Live stories as well. Therefore, users can contribute their stories to a group story if they’re organizing an event or if numerous Snapchat users are in the same location (for example, your vacation rental property). Something along the lines of Companies like CNN, National Geographic, and many others have mostly invested in the Discover section, which features a selection of their branded content. The primary distinction between these stories and others is that everyone on Snapchat may view them.
3. Chat
Anyone can initiate a discussion by swiping right on a name. Chat messages vanish after being read, just like Snaps.
This is the least helpful function for owners of vacation homes, but if you post interesting content on Snapchat, visitors can also comment on your listings.
How about the filters, though?
On Snapchat, you can send various posts, but you can also add various filters. They go by the following names:
1. Glasses
If you’ve ever seen one, you’ve probably seen a Snapchat selfie with a silly filter. Simply put, lenses are amusing animations that improve your selfie game. Every day, almost 10 million photos with lenses are sent!
Through Snapchat, businesses can create their lenses and distribute them globally. Just a little bit too pricey for the world of small business owners!
2. FiltersÂ
You can add a filter in place of animating your photos. Like Instagram filters, they alter a photo’s colors or tones to make them warmer, colder, black & white, or sepia. You could even include some stickers!
3. Geofilters
You can access special filters tied to your location if your GPS is enabled.
For free, anyone can contribute their geofilters for public spaces! Private areas are a different matter. You can design an on-demand geofilter if you desire a geofilter for your vacation rental business. They are $5 an hour for every 20,000 square feet.
Visit the Snapchat website to find out more about geofilters.
How to utilize Snapchat for hotels
What does this signify for holiday rentals now that we know more about Snapchat? A few hotels have already begun utilizing it! In 2014, Marriott Hotels was the first to jump on the new craze. W Hotels then announced branded filters in 24 US hotels, while Hyatt Regency also developed sponsored filters for its hotels in the US and Canada. However, as of now, we have yet to discover any holiday property that does that.
We comprehend. There is no practical method to calculate your return on investment when making Snapchat filters, spending money on Snapchat stories, or devoting time to taking snaps. You can’t determine if all the views on your photos are connected to the rise in reservations.
Generally, it relies on the kind of visitors you want to attract. However, if your goal is to reach a younger audience, Snapchat could be a fun approach to advertising your company.
So what do you, as a proprietor of a vacation home, do? Based on what other businesses are doing, the following are some practical suggestions:
1. Provide coupons to your neighborhood
By sharing exclusive coupon codes on Snapchat, you may attract the interest of both current and new customers. Even design expertise or a designer is optional. In reality, simplicity is best!
Companies like Groupon, restaurants and retail establishments already utilize Snapchat to provide promotional codes. As an illustration, 16 Handles sponsored a Snapchat campaign to distribute several coupons with discounts ranging from 16% to 100% off. Users had to outbid everyone else who saw their snaps, which was the gimmick. They occasionally only offered customers ten seconds to present their coupons to the cashier.
Snapchat coupons can help vacation rental owners increase internet reservations. You might even get returning customers!
You may even go one step further and conduct a competition after your Snapchat network has grown.
2. A sneak preview of your home
Post images and videos of your holiday rental property. You can offer them an exclusive tour of the house while showcasing your bedrooms, lawn, and pool.
About its properties, locations, and services, Marriott Hotels love to provide interesting facts:
You might also take them to places nearby the vacation rental. They’ll anticipate their visit and know what to expect as a result.
For instance, Airbnb offers rapid travel advice for several places:
3. The background VIP Entry
Let’s be honest. People enjoy prying on things. So give your future visitors the impression that they are receiving a VIP ticket to experience what it’s like to manage your company. Show them your preparations for their stay, or show them a video of your chef making breakfast.
Most hotels already practice this. Pictures of room service, spa treatments, check-in procedures, and other amenities are shared by Starwood properties. They demonstrate to potential customers how much work goes into all of their wonderful services:
4. Provide first-look access
Purchasing a new billiards table? had your garden been upgraded? Show your potential visitors using Snapchat.
Four Seasons routinely posts pictures of their updates and newly introduced services:
5. Takeovers of accounts
Allowing them to take control of your account is another approach to involving your new community!
For instance, Airbnb enjoys granting their hosts brief access to their Snapchat accounts so they may share their stories (often for a few hours or a day).
Other travel-related businesses, including Marriott Hotels, have collaborated with well-known people to post about their hotel stays on their corporate accounts:
6. Highlight your reviews
Why not display your stellar ratings? You can send your new community a screenshot of your new reviews by taking one.
You can be the first company to accomplish this as we needed help locating examples of it being done by others.
7. Logo-based Geofilters
Personalized geofilters are quite intriguing. For the enjoyment of your visitors at your vacation property, you can build special filters. You only need to invest in an on-demand geofilter for your guests to be able to use a special filter anytime they take a picture and share it with their friends. Your company will be more visible as a result!
Anyone who stays at one of these hotels can use the custom geofilters they have created:
Bonus: 8. Use Snapchat Stories and Lenses to their full potential.
If your vacation rental is getting good results on Snapchat and you’re willing to spend money on advertising, make a branded channel for it and post some stories. It functions precisely like having your account, except that everyone using Snapchat can see your brand and your stories thanks to this functionality.
Additionally, you can design your Lenses so that everyone using Snapchat may view your logo animations.
Do you feel up to it?
There are a few things you should seriously think about before joining the Snapchat bandwagon. Thought should be given to your business objectives when experimenting and investigating new, inventive strategies to promote your vacation rental company. Will Snapchat help your company achieve its long-term objectives? Do any of your prospective guests use Snapchat? Are you trying to reach younger people?
We encourage you to try out Snapchat and explore, but be mindful of your time and financial resources. Also, keep in mind that your ROI cannot be measured.
However, Snapchat may also be a fantastic tool for expanding your brand and engaging with new audiences. There isn’t much to lose because it’s entertaining and cost-free (if you share Snaps and unbranded tales).
Leave a comment below if you use Snapchat and are a vacation rental owner. Please get in touch with us.
